The Water Utility Partnership (WUP) for Capacity Building is a partnership organisation founded by the Union of African Water Suppliers (UAWS) and the International Training Network Centers in Africa – CREPA and TREND. Following a consultative meeting on institutional reform in the Water Sector held in Johannesburg in 1996, WUP was established to address key challenges facing utilities and their partners in the region. The primary constituency for WUP is the Union of African Water Suppliers (UAWS), a membership association of utilities in Africa. The Union brings together utilities from a large number of countries throughout Africa.

Primary aim: WUP was established with the primary aim of investigating various issues of concern to utilities in the region. WUP is currently implementing four projects in partnership with other actors in the region and with support from bilateral and multilateral agencies. Information and material gathered through WUP is targeted primarily at utilities, but is of relevance to other partners.

Key challenges: One of the key challenges identified by WUP is the need to identify ways of improving water supply and sanitation service delivery to low income urban communities. This toolkit has been developed to assist utilities understand and address the water and sanitation requirements of low income communities. Information contained in the toolkit has been collected through wide consultation and case study in nine countries within the region.